AIF Congress 2025
Portals is a proud member of the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) and we attended the yearly AIF Congress a couple of weeks ago. It was a fantastic opportunity to stay on top of the current trends in festival world, learn from the industry leaders, and catch up with plenty of friends old and new from festivals all across the UK.
We feel it's important to keep you, our loyal festival-goes, informed of news and updates regarding the future of festivals in this country!
One of the most important things to recognise is that last year 78 festivals had to cancel due to inadequate finances, up from 36 in 2023; most of these have permanently cancelled, with a small number deciding to take a fallow year to try and recoup any losses and come back stronger. This year already, 5 festivals have made the decision to not go ahead.
We had a great time at the AIF Congress. Asher & Sam are here somewhere amongst the attendees!
The biggest way that fans can help festivals is to buy tickets early. This gives promoters and festivals the reassurance that they will have the funds to pay their staff, suppliers, and bands, without being out of pocket themselves.
The AIF have been petitioning the UK Government to temporarily lower VAT on music festival ticket sales from 20% to 5%.
AIF CEO John Rostron said: “Grassroots independent music festivals are more than events; they’re the lifeblood of the UK arts landscape, providing a platform for emerging talent, supporting local economies and bringing joy to millions. But without government support, these festivals face unprecedented challenges.
Another piece of news that we'd love to share with you is the team over at Music Fans’ Voice have created a fantastic survey to help gather fans' opinions on the current state of festivals and live music in this country to use data to put forward persuasive arguments to the decision makers in this country!
It's going to be one of the largest surveys of its kind and will help dictate changes in the landscape moving forward. It would be amazing if you could take some time out of your day to help complete the survey as it really will make your opinion, the opinion of actual music lovers who spend their money on live music, count!
We also caught up with the legends from RADAR Festival in Manchester, and new pals at Mangata Festival in Nottingham, both of which are putting on huge events in our beloved world of weird, experimental, and alternative music. If you're in either of those areas, get involved!
While we're not quite ready to share our final Portals Festival lineup announcement, as we're finalising the last few bands, we hope we gave you enough to think about with the addition of Kalandra and the day splits for this year’s festival!